Building lasting youth power to fight for dignity and humanity
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Building lasting
youth power to
fight for dignity
and humanity
1
Throughout history,
young people have been the
first to call out injustice, the first to
demand change. Now, it’s time for our elected
officials and our elders to listen earnestly and
take action with intention. We have a mandate
to center the youth agenda: COVID recovery,
climate change, abortion rights, student debt,
economic justice—and racial justice as a central
principle for how we address all other issues. Our
country is in desperate need of reimagining itself.
2020 brought a global pandemic, an economic
recession, destructive wildfires, and national
cries for racial justice. Now is the time for our
In 2020, we saw election results in Colorado like country and our state to rebuild anew and
we have never seen before. The people have live up to its founding ideals of justice and
spoken: but more importantly, young people equality. And young people—we’re the ones to
have spoken. Young adults ages 18-34 turned reimagine our future.
out at record levels across the country, most
notably here in Colorado where early results
Next year, New Era Colorado will embark on a
show young people turned out at 70% and
statewide listening tour to hear young people’s
made up 27% of the vote share. Youth turnout
vision for the world and for Colorado. We will use
is 9 percentage points higher than the last
this visioning process to shape and move forward
presidential election and our vote share makes us
the Youth Agenda: a roadmap for how we rebuild
the largest voting bloc in the state.
our social contract with love, justice, and equality
Young people defied all the odds—a global
at the center. We will continue to connect young
pandemic, disinformation, intimidation at the
people’s vote to the issues they care about
polls—and made their voices heard at the ballot
by centering student debt reform in the state
box. Yet, young people did not turn out for a
legislature and giving young people a platform at
political party or a candidate: we turned out for
the capitol. New Era will organize young people,
our future.
year after year, as a political home for young
people until we achieve the vision of the world we
We came of age during the Occupy Wallstreet want to create.
movement while many of our families were
suffering economic ruin from the 2008
It’s time to pass the mic to the next generation,
recession; we realized our power through
and let us design the solutions to the problems
movements for justice, with young Black
we are inheriting. This election, we chose us—and
activists leading the Movement for Black Lives
now, we choose our future.
and the young Parkland students leading the
March for our Lives. We’ve watched our planet
burn while corporations get richer; we see our Onward,
communities suffering from a global pandemic
without healthcare, child care, nor a social safety
Nicole Hensel
net to hold us in place. Executive Director
2
Index
Letter from our Executive
Director, Nicole Hensel ........................................ 02
Who We Are ............................................................... 04
What We Do ......................................................... 05-07
Where We’ve Been Since 2006 .............. 08-09
2020 in Review ..................................................... 10-13
Looking Ahead to 2021 ........................................... 14
3
Who We Are
In 2020, our north star was to build lasting youth power
towards a Colorado that fights for the dignity and humanity
of all people.
We ensure our generation has the political power to move
Colorado toward a more just future.
4
What We Do
Civic Engagement
As the largest young voter mobilization
organization in Colorado, and one of the most
effective in the country, we’ve helped bring
about a new era of political engagement for
our generation. We’ve registered more than
220,000 young voters since our founding and
we turn those voters out in droves because we
know that when young people show up, we
vote for a better future. In fact, our efforts have
helped Colorado achieve some of the highest
youth voter turnout rates in the nation—and the
voters we registered turn out at rates as high
as 86%. By doing this all year, every year—for
elections big and small—we’re building a new
generation of voters and leaders who will shape
our democracy for decades to come.
5
Issue Organizing & Advocacy
We’re taking on the biggest issues facing our generation—and
when we win, we build a better Colorado for everyone. Through
our efforts we’ve passed some of the best pro-voter laws in
the country, protections for student loan borrowers, and
innovative climate policies.
The people most impacted by decisions made in the
halls of the Capitol—young people, LGBTQ people,
Black and Brown people, lower-income people—
have long been excluded from the conversation.
Through our advocacy program, we uplift our diverse
and progressive generation and center the youth
agenda in the minds of our elected leaders. Those
most impacted by our state’s policies should be the
ones dictating the conversation if we hope to build
toward a more just future.
Core Issues
Climate: We know climate change is an Economic justice & student debt: We
existential crisis that demands urgent know that our economy should work for
action, so we work at every level of all of us, not just the wealthy, so we pass
government to reduce carbon emissions policies to make college affordable and
and protect our planet. make sure everyone lives a life of dignity.
Abortion rights: We know that bodily Election access: We know that our
autonomy is a basic right, so we fight democracy is stronger when we all
shame and stigma around abortion. participate, so we tear down barriers to
access.
6
Leadership Development
Our generation is leading a massive political movement to take charge of our own
future. Whether it’s at the polls, at the capitol, or in the streets, we move our country
forward with the example of our leadership. At New Era, we build the power of young
people across the state to organize their peers, lead a team to victory, and fight for bold
policies that will protect and uplift our communities. We’ve trained hundreds of young
leaders since we were founded, and now watch with pride as they serve at all levels of
government in the state, run campaigns and strategy at our partner organizations, work
alongside incredible elected officials, and so much more.
7
New Era Colorado is founded at CU Boulder by Joe
Neguse, Leslie Herod, Lisa Kauffman, and Steve
Fenberg.
The first Vote F*cker button is designed, instantly
becoming a timeless momento.
We help launch The Bus Federation (now known as
the Alliance for Youth Action), the network of state-
based grassroots organizations building youth power.
Online voter registration passes (with critical support
from New Era), making Colorado the 4th state in the
country to expand registration access online.
We host our first ever Opening Day Happy Hour and
launch our first Fort Collins office.
In Boulder, voters pass 2B & 2C to pursue a greener,
locally-owned electric utility. Thanks to New Era, young
voter turnout doubles compared to previous municipal
elections.
We run the first ever National Voter Registration Day,
started by the Alliance for Youth Action.
New Era writes and helps pass a major voter access
bill, including voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-
olds and same-day voter registration.
8
8
Young voter turnout increases by 10 points from
2010 to 2014, likely due to election access
expansions from the 2013 legislation.
We launch our high school registration program, The
Colorado Democracy Challenge, piloting it in Denver
and Jefferson counties.
New Era turns out registrants at whopping 82%, 21
points higher than statewide youth turnout at 61%.
The Brazen Project, our abortion rights organizing
program, launches on CU Boulder and Auraria’s
campuses, later expanding to Colorado State
University.
Youth turnout surges in the midterm election, with
more people under the age of 40 voting than those
over the age of 60.
New Era passes a student debt reform bill regulating
public loan servicers and creating a watchdog in
the Attorney General’s office. We also help pass the
Colorado Votes Act—winning major expansions for
young voters like automatic voter registration and
guaranteed campus voting centers and dropboxes.
1. Despite the global pandemic and fueled by
national racial uprisings, young people turn out to
vote at HISTORIC rates with with 86% of New Era
registrants voting and statewide youth turnout at
70%. Young people officially become the largest
voting bloc in Colorado with 27% of the vote share.
2. We organize young people to defeat a backdoor
abortion ban, Prop 115, turning out 95% of our
supporters to protect abortion access.
9
2020 in Review: Building Lasting Youth Power
Despite a global pandemic, we were able to do what we do best—meet young people where they’re at,
break through the noise as a trusted messenger, and mobilize them to vote in record numbers. We adapted
our programs and strategies in light of the pandemic, yet stayed focused on our north star: to build lasting
youth power towards a Colorado that fights for dignity and humanity of all people.
We Drove Record Turnout
Young Coloradans shattered records during the
2020 election, turning out at historic rates and
cementing their place as the largest voting bloc in
the state. We met young people where they were at statewide turnout for
and mobilized them to vote their values down ballot. 18-34 year olds
We ran a scaled voter registration and engagement
program in 16 counties across the state to ensure
that young Coloradans had everything they needed
to vote. We registered 33,020 new voters this cycle
and stayed with them until they cast their ballot, turnout amongst New
turning them out for both primary elections and the Era registrants, a 4
general election. It’s clear that the work we’ve done point increase since
to expand access to voter registration and voting on 2016 despite the
college campuses is lifting up the entire youth vote pandemic
by making our elections more accessible.
of the vote share was
made up of young
people, cementing
their place as the
largest voting bloc in
the state
Let My People Vote
We collaborated with Soul 2 Soul Sisters on
a campaign to educate, mobilize, and build a
political home for young Black people in Colorado
in order to create permanent power through civic
engagement and issue advocacy. In 2020 we
registered young Black folx across Colorado to
vote and recruited Ambassadors for our relational
organizing program. Through this program, we
turned out young Black people in our registrant
universe at 74% this election.
10In March, we pivoted our work to reconnect
with our base in light of the pandemic. We We also piloted new
made calls to check in with young people, strategies like:
providing resources for them to protect
themselves and their loved ones from the
impacts of COVID-19 on their health— 1. Virtual voter registration
physical, mental, and financial (with a focus on workshops
student debt relief). In organizing, trust is your 2. Relational organizing
greatest currency.
3. Vote tripling
4. More targeted digital ads
All the while focusing on staff
wellbeing, mutual aid, and
increased sick time policy.
We Won the Fights We Picked
We organized young people in support of key
measures at the state legislature, including Fighting for abortion rights
sweeping police accountability reform, temporary
suspension of debt collection, and paid sick days. We soundly defeated Proposition 115 (with
Our abortion rights organizing expanded this year an 18-point margin), delivering a strong,
to defeat a harmful abortion ban this fall. We also clear message that our state will continue
organized in rapid response moments—running to protect abortion access. This year, our
a COVID-specific effort to provide resources on organizers worked hard to educate, persuade,
student loans, and uplifting the demands of local and identify supporters of abortions later in
Black organizers with the Movement for Black pregnancy, building an active base of young
Lives in June and July. people to mobilize. In fact, 95% of the 18-34
year olds who we ID’d in support of abortion
later in pregnancy turned out to defeat the
abortion ban.
turnout amongst
ID'd 18-34 year
olds against Prop
115
11Passed Prop 118, Paid Family Leave, providing a critical support to our
communities in the midst of the pandemic.
Passed Prop 113, a step toward a more just future by reaffirming Colorado’s
commitment to the National Popular Vote compact.
Defeated Prop 115, a dangerous backdoor abortion ban, by an 18-point
margin—delivering a strong, clear message that our state will continue to
protect abortion access.
Passed Colorado SB20-211 at the legislature at the legislature, limiting
extraordinary debt collection during the pandemic.
We Built Lasting Youth Power
Despite our wins, multiple measures passed in Colorado that deepen racial inequality and harmfully impact
our communities. There’s so much more work to do, and we’re continuing to organize. Immediately following
the election, we launched an organizing effort to connect young people to our issue campaigns and center
the youth agenda in the minds of newly elected leaders. This long-term power building work is why we're
so effective in election years: we don’t pack up and leave like most campaigns, we’re in it for the long run,
building an independent political home for young Coloradans
Election Protection
& Implementation
Equity Statement
We implemented the policies of the 2019
Colorado Votes Act, including the provision We named our failures and asked our
allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections. community to hold us accountable on our
Ahead of the presidential primary in March, organizational anti-racism journey, releasing
we ran a campaign registering and turning out a public equity statement. At New Era, we
17 year-olds at 44% in the primary, compared believe that centering anti-racism is the only
to 45.5% statewide turnout for all ages—an way to attain liberation for all. The intentional,
incredible feat for this group of first-time voters. deep integration of racism in our country’s
institutions, policies, communities, and
individuals requires that the move toward
justice and liberation begins by tackling white
supremacy. Now, we’re engaging in a strategic
planning process to weave anti-racism into the
DNA of our organization.
12Wins by the Numbers
13Reimagining Our Future: 2021 and Beyond
This election is just one moment in a movement towards a more just future. Young people turned out this
election and made their voices heard on the greatest issues our country face, and the challenges we will
inherit. This historic turnout creates a mandate to center the youth agenda in our work and in the minds of
our elected officials. One thing is clear this election: young people have spoken, especially young People of
Color—and now, it’s time to follow their lead.
2021 Priorities
1. Co-creating a new strategic plan, that must be:
• Community-centered and youth-driven, through a statewide listening
tour that aims to center the experiences of young people, especially
young BIPOC people, in our new strategic vision
• Anti-racist in its design and intention by rebuilding our policies, program,
and practices anew
2. Create a mandate for the youth agenda by:
• Passing student debt relief in the state legislature by regulating
predatory private loan servicers, stopping harmful debt practices, &
expanding financial literacy standards
• Limiting anti-abortion counseling centers’ access to campuses to
combat abortion stigma
• Continuing to improve and modernize Colorado’s election system to
expand voter access and enfranchisement
3. Expand the electorate by:
• Continuing voter registration at high schools and expanding
partnerships with community colleges to reach more BIPOC youth
across the state
14www.NewEraColorado.org
Graphic Design by Isaac Burton
www.isaacburton.com
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